1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a program viewing control apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a television broadcasting reception apparatus in which in order to prevent a program including a violent expression or a pornographic expression from being viewed by children, a broadcasting station adds viewing lock level information (rating information) to a broadcasting signal of the program to limit the viewing of the program based on this rating information, has been known. For example, a television broadcasting recording apparatus for carrying out the viewing lock even in fast play or slow play operation, has been known (see Patent Publication 1 for example).
When such a viewing lock is set, an adult user always must change the setting of the viewing lock in order to view a broadcasting program. Therefore, it is inconvenient. To prevent this, another television broadcasting reception apparatus in which a set viewing lock can be temporarily invalidated without changing the setting information of the viewing lock, has been known (Patent Publication 2 for example). Further, another apparatus in which a set viewing lock can be invalidated by inputting a password, also has been known (Patent Publication 3 for example).    [Patent Publication 1] Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2001-016565    [Patent Publication 2] Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2000-134554    [Patent Publication 3] Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2002-199367
Each user sets a viewing lock by selecting a viewing lock level based on the age of his or her child or the like. However, the user cannot know which viewing lock level a program to be locked has. Thus, there is some possibility that a selected viewing lock level is different from a viewing lock level of the program to be locked. As a result, a problem that a program to be locked cannot be securely locked is caused.